


welcome to the family

by lyricallyharley



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M, adopting a cat, that's pretty much it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24757285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyricallyharley/pseuds/lyricallyharley
Summary: Dan and Phil decide it's time to take the next step in their lives, and maybe a cat is just the thing they need
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33





	welcome to the family

**Author's Note:**

> this is for all my cat hill friends, hope you enjoy ^_^
> 
> thanks to aly as always for reading this over

"Are you still sure about this?" Dan asks, voice muffled by the sounds of the various animals in the pet store.

Phil smiles. He steps closer to him so that he doesn't have to raise his voice.

"Of course I'm sure." He affirms. "I'm not even that bothered by allergies. It's worth it."

Despite their years of talking about how much they wanted a dog, they eventually decided that now is not the time to make that commitment. Dan loves their fish and he knows Phil does as well, but they agreed that now was the time for the next step in their pet journey.

A cat.

They had sat down together the previous week and searched online for rescues and did a bunch of research on different cat breeds. They were serious about taking this step, and now that the day has come Dan's glad neither of them are having second thoughts

A tall woman, almost as tall as them, introduces herself and asks Phil for their information. Dan notices how she has a hint of a northern accent as she talks to Phil.

She turns around and opens a kennel, pulling out a cat and showing Dan and Phil who they're officially going to be bringing into their lives.

"Here she is" Emma, as her name tag reads, gently cradles a tiny kitten in her hands. 

Dan's heart skips a beat when he sees her.

"She's so small!" His voice cracks as he tries to whisper as he doesn't want to scare the cat. 

Emma then carefully places the cat in Dan's hands, instructing him on how to hold her so that it's most comfortable. 

"Hello there." He coos, the widest smile on his face.

Phil peers over his shoulder and lets out a tiny sound of joy at the sight. 

"She's so cute!" He says, voice as high as it'll go. 

Dan exhales shakily as he brushes a finger behind the cat's ear. 

"What's her name?" He asks.

"Lola.”

Lola is a calico with lots of white and grey fur and bits of tan. She has a tan patch over her right eye and a grey over her left. She's so tiny that Dan can hold her with just one hand whilst gently petting her on the head with the other. She doesn't seem to mind, so he continues to do it.

Her eyes are wide with curiosity. They're a bizarre mix of green and yellow that catches Dan off guard when he finally notices them.

Dan repeats her name softly. He's so happy in this moment he could almost cry.

"We found her at just two weeks old." Emma says. "We found her down an alley. Poor thing was scared half to death."

Dan then looks to Phil, seeing how that statement seems to get to him as well. He turns around and passes Lola to him, muttering a quick "careful" as he completes the motion. 

The look in Phil's eyes as he holds Lola for the first time is something Dan wants to remember forever. The way he slowly leans down to press a kiss to the cat's head and how his glasses fall to the edge of his nose as he does so. Dan laughs and pushes them back up, seeing how Phil isn't going to take a hand off of Lola to do so himself. 

"You won't drop her." Dan reminds him, placing one of his hands over Phil's shaky one where it supports Lola's belly. Dan's other hand then comes around to scratch her head. Dan realizes he may have done so too suddenly when she jumps in response.

He mumbles an apology to the cat and approaches again, letting her sniff his hand first. Phil still stands there, frozen, terrified of making a single move despite Dan's assurance. 

They hold Lola like she's made of glass. They're so focused on her that they almost forget about Emma, standing there with a smile on her face. Dan wonders how often she sees prospective pet owners who are as enthusiastic as they are. 

He doesn't care what people think. They've been waiting for this for years. 

He eventually takes Lola back into his hands and Phil goes and talks to Emma. Dan only half listens to what they're saying, trusting that Phil will remember everything. He doesn't dare take his eyes off of the precious creature in his hands.

When Phil comes back he has a piece of paper, presumably a list of things that they'll need to buy for the cat. He doesn't pay any mind to it at first, he just makes little tongue clicking noises as he leans Lola against his chest.

Emma hands Phil the cat carrier, which he then sets on the table. Dan sighs, not wanting to let go so soon. 

He places her inside gently, tucking the soft blanket around her before retracting his hand. Phil closes the carrier and offers to carry it. Dan doesn't object.

They thank Emma and start to make their way towards the food aisle. 

"Can I see the list?" Dan asks, taking it before Phil even responds. He reads it over, taking note of the brand of cat food they need and the recommended amount they need to give her as she grows. 

They had already come and bought bowls and a litter box, so now they just need the food.

But Phil seems to have other ideas when he spots a wall of cat toys. 

Dan scoffs, watching as Phil grabs the first one he sees with a smile. "Are you being serious? How do you even know she'll play with them?" 

Phil shrugs. "There's only one way to find out."

Dan just chuckles and takes out his phone. He opens the Instagram app and starts recording Phil, just in time for him to turn around and notices what Dan is doing. 

"So," Dan laughs as he attempts to speak coherently. "Phil, what are you doing?" 

"We can't just get a cat and not buy toys for it!" He justifies. "I'll only get a couple."

Dan steps closer and holds back another laugh as he sees the toy in Phil's hand. It's a small stick that has a string attached, and a little mouse toy on the end. Phil holds the stick and swings it around.

"Look!" He points at the mouse. "It's perfect!" 

Dan just laughs again. 

"Alright." He mumbles. 

He ends the story. He stands there for about a minute scrolling through the cat gifs while Phil continues to browse the toys. He finds a gif of a cat chasing a toy and adds it, and then posts the story to his account before shoving his phone back in his pocket.

"Okay, I'm going to go get Lola some  _ food,  _ but you have fun with your mouse.”

Phil just laughs and flips him off. Dan walks away, on the lookout for a sign that directs him towards the cat food.

He doesn't actually mind Phil's excitement, he already loves Lola with everything in him and he knows that he and Phil are probably going to end up spoiling her. 

He spots the aisle he's looking for when he sees different coloured bags of food and various sizes. He immediately finds the one he's looking for, sighing in relief as he picks it up and learns that it isn't as heavy as he thought it would be.

When he makes his way back to Phil he sees that he’s thankfully thought to go and get a basket to hold all their stuff. He's about to drop the bag of food in when he sees all of the toys in there.

He thinks briefly about whether or not he should record another instastory just to shame him, and the thought of it is just too hilarious to him so he pulls his phone out again to record.

"Phil!" He scolds jokingly. "That's way more than a few."

"I just got five!" Phil defends, laughing when he sees the phone in Dan's hand again. "I couldn't decide."

"Okay well what do we have here," Dan grabs one of the toys from the basket "A laser," he grabs another showing each one to the camera. "Some feathers on a stick, a little monkey."

He places the stuffed animal back and picks up the case of toys that seem to jingle when they move.

"Some...balls."

Phil laughs at the blatantly intentional innuendo.

He puts it back and then finally grabs the mouse, showing it again.

"And your weird mouse, okay. Good job, Phil. I'm sure these are all going to be put to use." He finishes with a sarcastic tone.

He ends the video and takes the basket from Phil to free up his hand. Phil grabs the carrier and looks back up to Dan. 

"Is that everything, then?" He asks. 

"Oh, no no no. Not so fast, mister." Dan chuckles as he leads Phil down to the other side of the aisle.

"If you want cat toys then I'm getting a cat tree."

"Sounds fair." Phil agrees.

"Not a  _ sad  _ one either. A good one. A fancy one."

Phil points to one of the boxes. "I think they might need assembling. You up for that?"

Dan takes one look at the picture on the front, looking at all the different levels and different areas to hide and is already taking it from the shelf. 

" _ Hell _ yes." 

Phil points out all of the toys that come attached to the cat tree as well and Dan scoffs.

"They probably don't come with it. We can probably try putting your mouse toy on there if you really want."

He can't fit the box in the basket so he just holds onto it as he and Phil walk back to the front of the store to pay for their things. 

When they get there the reality of what's happening really starts to hit Dan. They're really doing this. They're adopting a baby kitten and taking her home today. 

He stays close to Phil as the cashier attempts to converse with them. He isn't really in the mood to do anything other than get home as quickly as possible so that he can hold Lola again. 

The proximity between them definitely has heads turning and that only makes him anxious. He taps Phil's shoulder, silently letting him know that he wants to leave. Phil takes the hint and whispers that he's already called the cab and that it'll be there within the minute.

When Phil's done paying they leave the pet store and see that the car is already out front. Usually Phil would double check to make sure he has the right one but he doesn't bother today, they just load their stuff in and give the driver their address.

Dan looks down at the carrier. He can't exactly see Lola but he knows that she's in there and the thought of it brings tears to his eyes. This has Phil placing his phone on Dan's thigh with a note written there.

_ You okay? _

Dan smiles and types back.

_ of course, just happy :') _

Phil smiles back and takes Dan's hand, holding it for the duration of the short taxi ride to their apartment.

It's a rather warm day in London. When they arrive Dan immediately feels bad for Lola who's currently curled up in a blanket. They make their way up to their flat and Dan wastes no time setting the kennel down and opening it again to see Lola again.

She hasn't moved an inch. He doesn't dare try and reach for her, as the only reason Emma was probably able to without scaring her too much was because she's been with her for the last several weeks.

Dan figures she'll wander out when she's read, so he leaves her be. He looks up to see Phil with a pair of scissors, struggling to cut the box to the cat tree open. He gets up and quickly takes them from him.

"Wait, let me try."

"You're worse with scissors than I am!" Phil reminds him.

"Just because I'm left handed doesn't mean I don't know how to use them."

Dan finds the edge of the tape and starts cutting until he has enough of an opening to where he can tear the box open. 

He takes out the various parts that need to be assembled and lays the directions on top. Phil starts to turn over all of the parts to face up right and Dan noticed that his hands are shaking.

"Hey," He grabs Phil's wrist. "We can do this later."

He can tell Phil wants to object. He stares at Dan and exhales slowly.

"Sorry, I'm just stressed."

Dan runs a hand up his arm.

"I know." He hugs him as he whispers into his ear.

"I don't know what I'm doing, Dan." He admits. "I've wanted this for so long but ow it's real and...what if I screw up? What if I'm a horrible pet owner?"

Dan just holds him tighter.

"It's okay to feel that way, hell so do I." He releases his grip slightly so he can look at Phil's face again. "That just means you care about doing everything you can, and that's admirable."

"Well," Phil wipes a tear from just under his eye. He adjusts his glasses as Dan continues to smile at him with reassurance and understanding. 

"Maybe we should go see if she's moved at all"

"Yeah." Dan agrees.

They leave the kitchen and head back to where they left the kennel. The blanket is slightly hanging out and at first, Lola is nowhere to be seen.

Dan holds his breath. He and Phil begin looking behind furniture, the rational part of his brain telling him that there's nothing in the house that can hurt her and she's probably just hiding.

Then Phil makes a shushing noise.

"I didn't say anyth-"

"Shhh!" Phil cuts him off again. "Do you hear that?"

Dan is confused at first, but he follows Phil has we lead him around the corner. That's when he hears it too. 

The sound of leaves ruffling.

When they turn the corner they see Phil's houseplant, one of the long leaves being yanked by something, crispy end in the mouth of a tiny kitten.

"I told you we didn't need toys." Dan laughs as Phil grabs Lola, carefully tugging the leaf away from her mouth and muttering something along the lines of 'that's not food.'

"She was inevitably going to find something in the house that interests her." He adds.

"Well I love all my children, including my houseplants." Phil says. "I'll get her interested in one of the toys."

"Wait, look- Phil." Dan's voice goes quiet when he notices that Lola has fallen asleep in his Phil's hands.

"You think that means she likes me?" 

"I think so. C'mon." 

They take slow and quiet steps towards the lounge and sit down on the sofa. They both watch as Lola continues to sleep, hearing tiny snores every once and awhile. 

"I think we should let her rest." Dan suggests. He moves closer to Phil and motions for him to lean his head on his shoulder. 

Phil yawns "Yeah...I'm tired too."

This is a new chapter for them. Dan could get emotional at the thought of it. A new member to their family. 

Because sometimes family is two best friends and soulmates, their many houseplants, a fish, and a cat.

That's where they fall asleep, their afternoon nap accompanied by their new baby kitten, in her new home, with her new loving, adoring parents.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! come say hi and reblog on tumblr @casualdannie


End file.
